Another Azadlyg reporter attacked in Baku

New York, April 5, 2011--The Committee to Protect
Journalists condemns a series of attacks in capital Baku against reporters for
the pro-opposition daily Azadlyg
(Freedom), and calls on Azerbaijani authorities to immediately investigate the
incidents and bring the perpetrators to justice.

At around 9 p.m. on Monday, two unidentified assailants beat
Azadlyg reporter Ramin Deko when he
was returning home from his newsroom, local and international
press reported. According to the independent Caucasus news website Kavkazsky Uzel, the
assailants attacked Deko in a public garden near Azerbaijan's Academy of
Sciences. One of the assailants said, "Perhaps you didn't get any smarter," the
journalist told Kavkazsky Uzel, referring
to a warning he was given the previous day.

On Sunday, three unidentified men shoved Deko into a Lada
sedan after accosting him at a bus stop in Baku at around 10 a.m., the Azeri service
of the U.S. government-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (Radio Azadlyg)
reported. The abductors took his mobile phone and drove Deko to the Mashtaga
suburb of Baku, where they told him "to be smart and stop criticizing
authorities" and suggested that he should join a state-funded publication
instead of reporting for Azadlyg, RFE/RL
reported.

According to Kavkazsky Uzel, Deko did
not report the incidents to police because he said he does not believe his
attackers would be brought to justice. Deko is the second
Azadlyg reporter targeted for his
journalism in the last 10 days.

"These attacks appear to be part of a concerted effort to
intimidate Azadlyg from independent
reporting," CPJ Deputy Director Robert Mahoney said. "This is a matter for
investigation at the highest levels of law enforcement. Some journalists
believe local police will not thoroughly pursue these cases."

On March 26, six masked men abducted Azadlyg reporter Seimur Khaziyev in a Baku suburb. The attackers
shoved Khaziyev into a Mercedes minivan, took his cellphones, put a bag over
his head, and drove to an unknown location and beat him. Two hours later,
Khaziyev was put him back into the minivan and dropped off at a roadside
outside Baku, Kavkazsky Uzel
said.

Azadlyg staffers
have long been at odds with the Azerbaijani government, CPJ research shows.
Journalists have been physically attacked, intimidated, and imprisoned in
retaliation for their work. In 2006, Azadlyg
journalist Sakit
Zakhidov was sentenced to three years in jail on a fabricated drug charge,
and two other reporters with the daily, Nijat
Huseynov and Fikret
Huseinli, were assaulted in Baku.
In 2008, authorities convicted Azadlyg
Editor Genimet
Zakhidov on trumped-up hooliganism charges, and sentenced him to four years
in jail. The same year, reporter Agil Khalil was stabbed
and assaulted
in Baku, and barred
from leaving Azerbaijan.